John Wolf Brennan

Born in Dublin, Ireland, pianist and composer John Wolf Brennan has received broad acclaim for his exceptional musicianship. A style defined by fascination with contemporary archeology, a drive toward bold avant-garde exploration, sustained inquiry into Celtic heritage, and “Swiss watchmaker exactness” separates him from other free-jazz and avant-garde figures of his generation. His output centers on atonal textures and spans an extensive range of concepts and techniques, from prepared and unprepared piano works through vocal scores, chamber music, and orchestral writing for both classical and jazz ensembles. At the University of Fribourg he examined musicology, film, and literature; at the Lucerne Conservatory he studied piano with Eva Serman; and at the Academy of School and Church Music he trained in organ and conducting. Composition lessons with Karl Berger at CMS in Woodstock, NY, and with James Wilson at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin were later augmented by master classes led by Ennio Morricone, Edison Denissov, Klaus Huber, and Heinz Holliger. Brennan belongs to the Swiss composers’ group Groupe Lacroix and to the Pan-European quartet Pago Libre. Tours have taken him through Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, Canada, and the U.S.A. Four solo albums appear among his recordings, which also include projects with Pago Libre. He has directed orchestras such as SinFONietta and the Creative Works Orchestra. Ongoing engagement with literature and the performing arts has produced numerous scores for theatre, dance, sound sculptures, installations, and acoustical environments, among them the Klangschiff aboard a steamboat on Lake Lucerne, a forest staging of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, water music performed in a swimming pool, Sculpted Sound created for sculptures by Derek Shiel, and new music for the Glockenspiel at the Swiss Centre, London. Brennan likewise teaches and presents lectures and workshops throughout Europe.